Aliyu to pilgrims: Tell Jonathan we don’t have problems with him

Contrary to what Nigerians are being made to believe is happening in the Peoples Democratic Party, the Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has called on pilgrims to Israel to tell President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that his state is not at war with him.
It should be recalled that seven governors of the PDP have been daggers drawn with the party since the Special National Convention of the party held at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
But Governor Aliyu said in Minna on Tuesday that the disagreement is not a fight between the state and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Governor Aliyu made the clarification when pilgrims from the state for this year’s Holy pilgrimage to Israel paid him a farewell visit at Government House.
According to him: “If you have the opportunity when you get to the Holy land, please tell President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that we don’t have any problem with him.”
Governor Aliyu blamed the problems facing the country on ignorance on the part of many Nigerians, advising that people should be abreast of developments around them and in the country.
The governor said there is no reason for Nigerians to squabble over religious beliefs of each other because “we are all serving one God it is only the way we worship God that is different”.
He admonished the pilgrims to go to the Holy land with clean minds, adding that if they had any misgivings with anyone, they should forgive and forget and not harbour any ill feeling against anyone.
Governor Aliyu expressed appreciation to God “for what He has been doing in Niger State”, insisting that the “relative peace being experienced in the state is because of prayers of the people”.
He said prayers can never be enough.
He charged the pilgrims to pray for the continued peace and progress of Niger State and Nigeria because “we have no other state or country that we can call our own.”
Earlier the Deputy Leader of the state pilgrims to the Holy land, Reverend Musa Dada, announced that over 547 pilgrims are performing the pilgrimage from the state this year, the highest number of pilgrims since the creation of the state.
Dada said 365 of the pilgrims were either wholly or partly sponsored by the state and the local government areas in the state while the rest are self sponsored.